Which to use
“gomme” is a noun and “gommer” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #13,802
- “gomme” frequency rank
- #34,550
- “gommer” frequency rank
- 48352
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | gomme | gommer |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Exsudat végétal riche en polysaccharides, sécrété naturellement ou à la suite d’une blessure par certains arbres, notamment des légumineuses, et utilisé comme épaississant, émulsifiant ou liant dans des préparations alimentaires, pharmaceutiques ou industrielles. | Effacer un écrit au moyen d’une gomme |
Where the eye mixes gomme and gommer
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. gomme runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against gommer's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses gomme with gommer
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: gomme is \ɡɔm\ while gommer is \ɡɔ.me\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “gomme” sits inside “gommer”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48352, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
gomme is recorded at frequency rank #13,802, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɡɔm\. gommer is at rank #34,550, tagged as averb, pronounced \ɡɔ.me\.
Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.
With a confusion score of 48352, this pair ranks #179,614 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of gomme vs gommer
Shared letters: egmo. Private to "gomme": -. Private to "gommer": r.
"gomme" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "gommer" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "gomme" and "gommer" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "gomme" or "gommer" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "gomme" and "gommer" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "gomme" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "gommer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #179,614 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "gomme" and "gommer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gommer vs gommes". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #179,614 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.